You what know cured me sobs from today’s sad episode of Who Are You? Flitting around DC and Baidu and finally (I mean finally) hearing some underground rumors about the casting of the other male lead of the upcoming Ha Ji Won mega sageuk Empress Ki. Joo Jin Mo has already taken the role of King Chunghye of Goryeo who is one leg of the love triangle, but its been 3 weeks since his casting and no word on who is playing the Yuan dynasty Emperor Soon Jae (aka Emperor Huizhong of Yuan born Toghun Temür). Apparently MBC is having a hard time casting this role because (1) they need someone younger than Ha Ji Won because Empress Ki was a few years older than her husband, (2) this actor needs to have the screen presence to go toe-to-toe with former Baeksang winners Ha Ji Won and Joo Jin Mo (she won Best Actress in film for Closer to Heaven, he won Best Actor in film for A Frozen Flower), and (3) the network is having a hellish time trying to balance historical accuracy with trying to create the look for Toghun Temür because the Mongolian hairstyle in the 12th century was unimaginably hideous (I’ve included a picture below). So for those three reasons, this role is quite coveted but hard to cast. After weeks of trying to dig up any nugget of information, I finally heard the rumored actors in the running and boy is it a very juicy list. I’ll tell you at the end of the post which two guys its purportedly down to, but the script has been discussed with six K-actors ranging from seasoned to a lightweight relative newbie. The rumored six are Jo Hyun Jae, Park Hae Jin, Lee Jin Wook, Yoon Si Yoon, Jung Gyu Woon, and Park Seo Jun. Take a minute to digest that. My reaction ranged from yay! to huh? to hhhhmmm to nyet! to meh to buh? Of these six only one guy has significant sageuk experience and that is Jo Hyun Jae who headlined the 56-episode Seodongyeo with Lee Bo Young and got his breakthrough as the second male lead in the Jang Hyuk sageuk Daemang. Though I figured the drama was going younger for this role since it was offered to Jang Geun Seok first. I am supremely curious who gets the final selection. Who’s your pick? My vote easily goes to Jo Hyun Jae. Continue reading →